Our Very First Show
Our Very First Show is the premiere episode of the series Full House, which aired for the first time on September 22, 1987. Synopsis See also: Our Very First Show/Transcript A car crash killed Danny Tanner's wife, Pam, three months earlier, leaving him with the task of raising his three daughters on his own at the Tanner home. His mother, Claire, had been staying with the family to help out, but when she must go back to Seattle, he asks his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood friend Joey Gladstone to move in to help him take care of the girls: ten-year-old D.J., five-year-old Stephanie, and one-year-old Michelle. Joey and Jesse's first day includes that harrowing rite of passage: changing a diaper. Since Joey and Jesse do not know a thing about taking care of a baby, they struggle in their efforts to take care of Danny's youngest, Michelle. The other girls have a difficult time adjusting to the living arrangements. D.J. is frustrated that she has to share her room with Stephanie since Stephanie's old room is now going to be occupied by Jesse. But Danny assures her that it is like having a slumber party, to which D.J. replies, "Yeah, with one guest who never leaves." However, Stephanie is happy with this, because she excitedly wants to wear D.J.'s clothes. Jesse then enters and the girls are happy to see him. He asks D.J. about her incoming tooth, which she says hasn't happened yet, but he reminds her it's one less tooth to brush for the time being. He then tells Danny about his exciting gig at The Smash Club, his trip to , and his encounter with Vanessa, a showgirl. Stephanie gets him to play "ballerina", and he initially refuses, but gives in after her "crying routine". A few seconds later, Joey makes his entrance, and is glad to see Jesse and Danny, the latter showing him his "room": the alcove. He is excited about the move-in because he says that it occurred on the exact same day he ran out of clean clothes, and is excited that a washing machine is there, so he can do his laundry. Upstairs, Danny shows Jesse his room, but Jesse is shocked by the presence of pink bunnies on the wallpaper (because it was Stephanie's room before). He thinks that the room would be better with Barbie's Dream House near the window. But he tells Danny that Pam was his big sister and he loved her very much, and he loves the girls, so he is happy to be there for them. When he goes to hang his clothes up in the closet, he says, "Oh, great. I live in Webster's room" (see Trivia). In the bedroom across the hall, D.J. makes the most of sharing it with her younger sister. According to her, as the older sister, that means that she is the boss, and thus, makes the rules; for good measure, she makes two rules for Stephanie to follow (and suggests that she take notes so she can remember): one, never touch her stuff (thus ruining any chances of Stephanie wearing her clothes); and two, never set foot on her side of the room. To distinguish whose side is whose, and as she explains the rules to her younger sister/new roommate, D.J. uses crime scene-like tape going from the window to an easel and clips the other end to the easel. Stephanie wonders how she can get out of the room, and D.J. suggests jumping out the window and climbing down the tree. Stephanie does not think this is a good idea, so she tries another idea by climbing across the curtain rod, which unfortunately leads to D.J.'s side, causing D.J. to open the curtains to reveal said window and send Stephanie back to her side of the room where she belongs. When Joey and Danny come in, they assure her D.J. will be just fine, and even offer Stephanie a piggy-back ride. In the meantime, in Michelle's room, her crying means something. Joey tries his , , and sprinkler impressions to cheer her up, but to no avail. He asks Jesse, "What if she needs to be... changed?" And that's something they have no experience doing. With Joey taking the "south end" (bottom) and Jesse the "north end" (top), they both carry her downstairs, repeatedly saying in cadence, "Step one, step two", so as to make sure they do not miss a step. As they enter the kitchen, Stephanie says, "Showtime!", and heads in to watch. They think of putting her in a pot at first, but Jesse says to put a meat rack in first. After changing out the old diaper, they can't find the pack of new diapers! So, they get creative by using a fan to dry Michelle's bottom after the change, wrapping her up in a paper towel roll, and even putting her in a plastic produce bag. Then Stephanie brings out the pack of diapers, and when they say why she waited until now to give it to them, she replies, "Nobody asked me" (see video above). Later that night, Jesse and Joey are exhausted, as the living room is filled with dirty baby clothes and other stuff, a sign of the mess made during the "diaper change" and "feeding" fiascos. When Danny comes home, he can't believe what he sees. Joey explains that every time they fed Michelle, she'd drool or dribble or spit up. Then, after her flight to the Philippines with gets canceled, Vanessa comes in and she and Jesse head off to find some time alone. But before they can do so, Stephanie asks Jesse to play "ballerina" again. However, the guys all ask her to play with D.J., but Stephanie says she can't, because D.J. moved out, saying "She rolled up her crepe paper and moved out." Danny leads everyone upstairs, and via a screen-wipe effect, we see the empty room. The drawers are open and empty (from the desk to the chest), the closet door is open, and the wallpaper is gone per Stephanie. The only thing still intact is D.J.'s bed. Danny accuses Jesse and Joey of losing D.J., reprimanding them, "You lost my daughter? I went to work for seven hours, and you lost 33 percent of my children?" He asks Jesse to search the neighborhood and Joey to call the police, while he calls D.J.'s friends. Stephanie also volunteers in the search, and when Danny asks if she knows where her sister is, Stephanie says that she does. And when he asks her why she did not say something sooner, she just replies, "Nobody asked me." What they don't know is that D.J. has rebelled against sharing a room with Stephanie by moving into the garage, where the guys find her talking on the phone to her best friend and next-door neighbor Kimmy Gibbler. Danny has to deal with this situation without a clue of how to do so, and when he tries to tell D.J. that the garage is too stuffy and filthy to even make her new room in it, she asks him if he wants fresh air, and he gets some in the form of her opening the garage using its remote control. Jesse tries to buy her off, but it is no use. Joey's impression of , complete with a offer, also does not help. When Michelle starts crying, it is a hungry cry, and Danny asks Joey to go inside and warm up the baby bottle and asks Jesse to stay and talk to D.J. Like Danny, Jesse does not blame her for wanting her own room, but the world is not a perfect place. He mentions that even actor gets a record deal (and he hasn't been able to), and then Vanessa shows up. With Vanessa in the house, he decides to buy D.J. off to get her back in, and it works. The offers alternate: Jesse offers $5, D.J. wants $50, Jesse then doubles his original offer to $10, D.J. goes down to $49 before going back up to $50 (see Quotes). Jesse's final offer is $20, but D.J. goes up to $21, and that's the final offer. Eventually, D.J. changes her mind and moves back into the house. But by the time she is back in, Vanessa is already gone, so Jesse wants the money back. Danny explains that with three girls in the house, Vanessa would be better off sleeping on the couch rather than in Jesse's room for the night, but she did not like that, so she left. Danny then rejects D.J.'s offer of a garage sale, even if she promises to give him 10% of the profits. He also gives her the ultimatum of either her moving back in or all five of them moving into the garage and thus making the rest of the house useless and worthless. After ultimately deciding to move back in, D.J. reveals why she was upset about sharing her room with Stephanie. She did not like things that she loves disappear one by one. It started with the death of her mother, followed by her grandmother moving out, and now the fact that she has to share her room instead of having her own room. Danny and Stephanie comfort her and the family sings "Meet the Flintstones" to Michelle, making her very happy. Background This is not the series pilot. An unaired pilot was shot with John Posey as Danny because Bob Saget, the producers' first choice for the role, was unavailable, due to a prior commitment. The pilot with Posey is included on the Complete Series and The Complete First Season DVD sets. Guest stars * as Claire Tanner * as Vanessa Quotes Jesse: the offer to get D.J. to move back into the house A buck? You went down a buck?! ---- the kitchen... Danny: D.J., honey, I can’t let you have a garage sale. D.J.: What if I give you ten percent of the profits? Danny: D.J., come here. moves near Danny. Can’t you just try sharing a room with your sister? refuses to answer. Your mom was always so good at this stuff. I’d come home from work, and everything was always perfect. D.J., how would Mom have handled this? D.J.: She would have caught me before I moved into the garage. Mom knew everything I did before I did it. is on the verge of tears, as inspirational music plays for the first time. Danny: What is it, honey? D.J.: It’s just not fair! First, I lose my mom. Then Grandma leaves. And now I even lose my own room? Everything keeps disappearing. Danny: I know exactly how you feel. And I know how much you girls miss your mother – because I miss her too... very much. But you still got me. Stephanie: You got me, too. Danny: You got Michelle, and you have your Uncle Jesse and Joey. D.J., we’re still a family. And now is when we really need to stick together. is silent. D.J., you and I, we go back a long time – ten years. The ten happiest years of my life. So look, it’s up to you. Either you move back inside, or all five of us are moving into the garage. But nothing is gonna break up this team. D.J.: I’ll move back in. Danny: I love you, angel. You too, little ballerina. Trivia *The closing scene of this episode involves Joey, Jesse, Danny, D.J., and Stephanie singing theme song to a fussy Michelle in order to soothe her; 29 years later, in the premiere of Fuller House, the quintet recreate the same scene (a la split-screen) – this time singing to Tommy Jr. (see photo) *Jesse saying, "I live in Webster's room" is a reference to the title character on (which ran on ABC in 1983–1987) *The episode aired on a Tuesday before moving to its usual Friday time slot with the next episode Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes Category:Quotes Category:Season premiere episodes